Q. David Bowers
"Q. Trade dollars are now practically current in Hong Kong, Canton, Foo-Chow, Ah Mow, and Ong Chow?
"A. Yes, sir.
"Q. And are working their way to as far south as Singapore?
"A. Yes, sir; the largest shipments are made to See Kung for the purchase of rice.
"Q. How much do you think the silver market here has appreciated? How much benefit are the producers of silver deriving today from the mere fact that the government is coining trade dollars?
"A. I should fancy fully the cost of transportation between here and London, 2%."
The chairman questions General O.H. LaGrange, superintendent of the San Francisco Mint:
"Question. You heard what Mr. Tompkins said in regard to the trade dollar. Have you been in the habit of shipping those coins?
"Answer. Not ourselves. I formerly handled many of them, but now not so much, because the business has been concentrated in the hands of larger bankers.
"Q. Would your testimony confirm that of Mr. Tompkins, in regard to the additional value given to silver in the market here?
"A. I think there is no possible question but that the trade dollar has made a very large demand for silver, which would have been a drug here. Formerly, the only means of getting silver to China was in refined silver bars, and those could only be handled by a few persons, by large importers and heavy Shippers. Now the trade dollar forms the means of shipment for small dealers. They are shipped in amounts of $100 and upward, and thousands of them are carried away in the hands of passengers privately.
"Q. Do you recollect about the time of the first shipment of fine bars of silver to China from here?
"A. Yes, sir. I was at that time and had formerly been clerk in a bank here, and conceived the idea of having the bars refined here. It was about the time of the heavy shipments of silver from the Comstock down here, 1859, '60, '61, and silver began to be a drug, because they were crowding it into the mint for half dollars, and they were useless for shipment; and I went to a gentleman here who was a large shipper of Mexican dollars and called his attention to the fact that he could ship refined silver from here to China, thus saving 60 days' time with a large percentage of insurance, and freight, by shipping direct from here to China, instead of shipping from
here to London, and thence by the peninsula to the Orient; and he authorized me to buy a quantity of bullion, cause it to be parted, and he made the shipment to a very great advantage. At that time Mexican dollars were ranging from 12% to 18% premium. He made a shipment of refined silver.
"Dr. LINDERMAN: (Director of the Mint Dr. Henry R. Linderman, a numismatist (who had the rare privilege of being able to coin his own rarities), was a friend of the trade dollar denomination and the Western silver politicians.)
"Question. You are aware that depositors pay the cost of coining those dollars by the government?
"Answer. Yes, sir.
"Q. Is it your opinion that the government ought to afford every possible facility for coining them?
"A. It seems to me so. I don't know what we should do with the bulk of silver if it was not disposed of in some such way. I am very well aware that before the coinage of the trade dollar the rate of exchange with China, owing to the scarcity of Mexican dollars, had caused them to change 7% here within a week.
"Q. Always commanding at that time a premium?
"A. Yes, sir. There was an extra duty on them from Mexico which gave them a premium at once; and an additional premium was created by the demand for them for shipment to China, and for many years the range was from 11% to 16%.
"The CHAIRMAN:
"Question. Then, in your opinion, the fact of the government coining trade dollars at the mint here has added to the value of the silver production of the United States very appreciably?
"Answer. There is no question of that.
"Q. Mr. Tompkins stated that he thought that it had raised the value about the cost of the freight and insurance from here to London, which was about 2%. Is that your opinion?
"A. I should think that it had really made a value for the silver greater than that. If there were no trade dollars coined, bar silver would take a range of certainly 4 or 5 and perhaps 6% below its production rate. You were speaking about the returns of the mint. I have had some experience in the United States Assay Office in New York City, and it is not favorable. I have never had any complaint with the mint here, but in New York we had constant complaints and reclamations.
"FUNG CHUNG sworn, "The CHAIRMAN:
"Question. Your firm has deposited dust in the mint for coinage?
"Answer. Yes, sir.
"Q. And have your returns always been good?
"A. Everything Was satisfactory.
"Q. Have you ever put silver in the mint for trade dollars?
"A. No sir, I never did.
':Q. You got your gold returned, and your coin, in good season, and all satisfactory?
"A. Yes, sir; and I never heard complaint from our customers in the country.
"Q. Do your customers in the country, when they send you gold-dust, always want it to go to the mint?
"A. Yes, sir.